The present invention relates to an acupuncture needle for treating diseased parts of a human body by inserting it into the affected parts and applying light, with meaning a light wave and an electromagnetic wave in the present invention, or heat to the needle to enhance the curative effect, and more particularly to an optical transmission type acupuncture needle which employs an optical transmission member such as optical fibers in a needle body of such an acupuncture needle.
In recent years, special attention is being focused on an acupuncture or an Oriental therapy, because many people suffer from mental stresses and fatigues resulting from an increased diversity of social environments and many hours of work at display terminals. A sports boom and an increasing number of aged people have also contributed to bringing acupuncture into wide use.
The needles for acupuncture currently available consist generally of a needle body having a needle point to be inserted into the affected part of a patient's body, and a needle holder that encloses and end portion of the needle body opposite to the needle point.
FIG. 1 shows the outline of one example of a conventional acupuncture needle drawn almost to the actual size.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1A represents a needle body, which is often made of stainless steel but is also made of other materials such as gold, silver and platinum. Designated 2A is a needle holder that encloses the rear portion of the needle body 1A opposite to the needle point. The needle holder 2A can be formed of various kinds of material and have many designs. The needle holder 2A has a function of preventing the needle body 1A from advancing excessively into the body and also serves as an operating handle for manipulating the needles. There are various kinds of needles--a twist needle (driven into the affected part of the body by being twisted), a strike needle (driven into the body by being tapped lightly), and a tube needle (that uses a tube for introducing the needle).
The acupuncture technique is designed to vitalize the physiological action such as that of the sympathetic nerve by accurately giving stimulations to what is generally called effective points in the body although the method of applying the acupuncture technique (method of inserting the needle) varies depending on the symptoms and the locations of diseased parts.
There are two kinds of acupuncture techniques: one involves sticking a needle into a diseased part or an effective point separate from the diseased part; and another involves sticking the needle into an effective point and also burning moxa at the effective point. It is considered that the application of heat to the diseased part is effective in curing. In the description that follows, the portions of the body where the needles are stuck are referred to generally as diseased parts.
A heating needle, one of acupuncture needles that have been developed, has a resistance heating body at the needle point, which is heated by passing an electric current through it. This needle is complex in structure and expensive and has a drawback of causing side effects due to heat radiating from the entire needle, and therefore is not practical for use with acupuncture.
A so-called optical therapy is being practiced in which light is applied to the diseased parts. For such a therapy, infrared rays, visible light and laser beam are used depending on the symptoms.
In recent years, efforts have been made to develop technologies to apply optics to medicine. Among such known technologies are a laser scalpel and a laser coagulating apparatus making use of a carbon dioxide gas laser.
Measuring systems have been developed that use a combination of optical sensors and optical fibers and form optical circuits between a light source and the detector.
As mentioned above, application of heat or light to the diseased parts of the body is attracting attention of medical researchers for its positive physiological effects although the application means differ depending on the symptoms. With conventional acupuncture which simply sticks a needle to the diseased part, however, the heat application is not expected to provide a desired curing effect.
With another method of acupuncture that involves sticking a needle into the diseased part and burning moxa to apply heat to the affected part, since the heating needle radiates heat from the entire needle body as described earlier, portions of the body other than the diseased parts are undesirably heated, making it difficult to properly apply heat to only the diseased parts.
Further, with the conventional light radiating therapy, while it is easy to apply light onto the surface of the diseased part, the diseased part itself in the body, a target of the acupuncture treatment, cannot be radiated with light without cutting into and exposing the affected part. In other words, heat and light are not applied directly to the affected parts within the body.